Former Nassau detective Hector Rosario convicted of lying to the FBI, acquitted of obstruction of justice

A former Nassau County detective accused of moonlighting for the Bonanno crime family was convicted Wednesday of lying to the FBI but acquitted of the top charge of obstruction of justice at his trial in federal court in Brooklyn.

The jury spent two days deliberating over the fate of Hector Rosario, 51, who prosecutors say spent nearly a decade running interference for the Bonanno crime family, feeding tips to law enforcement on Long Island gambling parlors run by rival organized crime families and conducting phony raids to intimidate illegal backroom joker poker spots to shut down.

The split verdict allows Rosario to avoid a maximum of 20 years behind bars on the charge of interfering with a law enforcement investigation, but he still faces up to 5 years for misleading FBI agents.

"It's not a win unless you get an acquittal on all counts," defense lawyer Kestine Thiele said afterward. "He, I'm sure, is relieved, as are we that there was an acquittal on obstruction. But the fight is not over and he knows that, and he's ready to move to the next stage of the case."

Admitted Bonanno crime associates now cooperating with federal authorities testified that Rosario had warned them they were being watched by Nassau police and federal investigators, but the jury was not convinced.

Defense lawyer Louis Freeman told the jury in his opening statement that there was no proof a grand jury had been impaneled in the probe. U.S. District Judge Eric Vitaliano made it clear that was not a requirement for the jury to find Rosario guilty of obstruction.

"The law does not require that the federal proceeding be pending at the time of the defendant’s actions as long as the proceeding was foreseeable, such that the defendant knew that his actions were likely to affect the proceeding," Vitaliano instructed the jury. "In addition, the government does not have to prove that the defendant knew that proceeding would specifically be a federal grand jury proceeding."

The panel's last note to the court questioned the meaning of "foreseeable" in the judge's jury instruction regarding the obstruction charge.

Jurors declined to speak to Newsday after the verdict.

Brooklyn prosecutors vowed to continue to root out corruption.

"This corrupt detective chose to prove his loyalty to an organized crime family over the public he was sworn to protect," interim U.S. Attorney John J. Durham said in a statement. "When police officers exploit their positions for personal gain, it erodes public trust in law enforcement."

Rosario spent a decade and a half on the police force until he was fired in August 2022, after prosecutors unsealed indictments on nine organized crime members, including the former detective.

During the week-and-a-half trial, the jury heard a wiretap conversation between Rosario and Bonanno associate Salvatore Russo inside a Queens marijuana growhouse in which he dissuaded the mafioso from transporting large quantities of the drug to Valley Stream for sale.

The former detective repeatedly warned Russo, who had already been arrested for selling a brick of cocaine to an undercover officer, that federal investigators were surveilling him.

"What kind of friend would I be if I didn’t look out for your interest," Rosario told Russo. "They don’t care if it’s daytime or nighttime. They got people watching."

Unknown to Rosario, Russo had started cooperating with the FBI hoping that the agency would vouch for him when it came to his sentencing on the drug charge.

Russo told the jury that he drafted Rosario to help force illegal gambling dens run by the Genovese and Gambino crime families out of business.

As far back as 2013, Rosario fed tips to investigators about illegal gaming operations in Lynbrook, Merrick and Valley Stream.

Damiano Zummo, 51, who ran a Bonanno crew on Long Island, testified that he authorized Rosario do a fake raid on a Genovese gambling spot in Merrick run in the backroom of Sal’s Shoe Repair.

The mob soldier said he knew he could trust Rosario because "he’s a street guy," Zummo told the jury. "He’d break the law if he had to."

Thiele asked the jury not to believe the mafia witnesses, noting they were all awaiting letters of reference from the government ahead of their pending sentencings.

"These men have always been motivated by their own wants and needs," Thiele said in her closing.

In January 2020, FBI agents showed up at Rosario’s Mineola address with recordings of him with his mobster friends, asking about his work with the Bonanno crime family.

Rosario denied knowing Zummo and said he’d never been to Sal’s Shoe Repair. He admitted knowing Russo, but said he was an old family friend, according to testimony from FBI Special Agent Orlando Tactuk, who conducted the interview.

Even after seeing the evidence and hearing the recording, Rosario declined to change his story.